NEWS ROUNDUP


Burned, Standing Trees A Threat In Durango Area Forestry officials are warning that dead trees left standing after a 70,000-acre wildfire nearly four years ago are in danger of toppling onto roads and trails, endangering drivers, hunters and others. "These trees that are fire-killed and don't have any needles are going to be falling over with a greater frequency," U.S. Forest Service forester Mike Johnson told the Durango Herald in Sunday's editions. "Our concerns are particularly where the fire got close to the roads and common-use areas," he said. "If it's a windy day, you may want to postpone your trip," he said. The 2002 Missionary Ridge fire destroyed 56 homes. One firefighter was killed when the roots of a burned tree gave way and the trunk fell on him....
FBI accuses 3 environmentalists of bomb plot The FBI announced the arrests Friday of three environmental protesters suspected in a plot to destroy federal property, cell phone towers and power generation facilities. Those charged were connected to the Earth Liberation Front, a movement that justifies destruction of industrial objects in defense of the environment, according to an FBI news release. Arrested were Zachary O. Jenson, 20, of Monroe, Wash.; Lauren Weiner, 20, of Philadelphia; and Eric Taylor McDavid, 28, of Auburn. They were arrested Friday morning in the parking lot of a shopping center in Auburn (Placer County), about 30 miles east of Sacramento. In addition to unspecified cell phone towers and power generation facilities, the three were also plotting to destroy U.S. Forest Service facilities, the FBI said....
Recreationists ticketed during wilderness sting The Summit County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Forest Service cited more than 30 people recently for violating wilderness recreation rules in the White River National Forest, according to a release from the Summit County Sheriff's Office. The two entities collaborated on Jan. 6-7 to enforce federal and state laws in areas of high recreation use where there have been compliance issues in the past. Ten officers saturated a popular area near Spring Creek Road past Heeney and the Vail Pass Recreation Area. "There has been consistent trespassing by snowmobilers into the wilderness near Spring Creek and that is something that should not be tolerated," said Forest Service law enforcement officer Jill Wick....
Editorial: Make NEPA better, not weaker For better and worse, one law has shaped national environmental policy for 35 years. It's called the National Environmental Policy Act, more commonly known by its acronym, NEPA. Its enactment in 1970 marked perhaps the largest milestone in modern environmentalism. NEPA is based on the common-sense, look-before-you-leap idea that government agencies should consider the environmental implications of their decisions and actions, and that the public should be involved in making those decisions. This is the law that requires environmental impact statements for significant government decisions and ensures the public the right to comment on and meaningfully participate in those decisions. NEPA is a good law but far from perfect. It could be made better, more useful and much more efficient. Unfortunately, the strongest proponents for improving NEPA happen to be critics who often sound adversarial to the law's purpose. They provoke a defensive reaction from NEPA proponents who tend to resist any reform for fear they might open the door for wholesale changes that defeat the purpose of NEPA. The result is stalemate. NEPA has been tweaked only twice, in relatively minor ways, since enactment....
Group wants trapping ban to protect lynx A Minnesota-based animal welfare group has asked the federal government to ban trapping in Minnesota's two national forests to stop the accidental killing of lynx. Help Our Wolves Live — which has taken up the cause of the lynx — says the ban is needed in the Chippewa and Superior national forests to protect lynx, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. According to HOWL, humans are the leading cause of lynx deaths in Minnesota and may be holding lynx numbers down. Several lynx have been shot, trapped and hit by vehicles in recent months. Linda Hatfield, executive director of HOWL, said a review of research data shows at least 15 lynx have been trapped, snared or shot in Minnesota over the last 36 months — nearly half of those within the Superior National Forest....
Geese Put Oakland in a Sticky Situation Piles of goose waste at a city lake have officials struggling to clean up the mess for picnicking park-goers. Full-time resident Canada geese arrived at the city's Lake Merritt in 1954 when several injured birds were introduced to the refuge. Their numbers have exploded in the last 20 years to at least 200 regulars, with about 2,000 geese descending on the park each summer, according to the National Audubon Society. "Each bird produces about a pound of poop a day — that's literally a ton each day," said Stephanie Benavidez, head naturalist at the Lake Merritt Wildlife Refuge. It is a staggering problem that has Oakland trying to figure out how to chase away the geese without running afoul of the Federal Migratory Bird and Endangered Species acts that protect many of the birds that live alongside the geese at Lake Merritt, which covers 150 acres....
Cannon insists BLM should not claim that land is owned by feds U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon is calling on the Bureau of Land Management to back away from claiming about 56 acres adjacent to Camp Williams that he says have been recognized as private property since the original federal survey was taken 150 years ago. BLM officials argue a new survey proves the land, at the south end of Salt Lake County, rightfully belongs under federal ownership, and that any adjustment is beyond their control. In a letter sent to BLM Director Kathleen Clarke, Cannon says a property "hiatus" created by a 2001 BLM survey is inconsistent with long-recognized and firmly documented property lines. "I am concerned that the survey is the result of inaccurate data and will affect the rights of the county and numerous private property owners in a potentially damaging matter," Cannon wrote in a statement. "Accordingly, I request that the survey be withdrawn and that BLM discontinue any action."....
Budget woes worry BLM manager Predictions are grim for the future of the Bureau of Land Management, said Jay Carlson, district manager of the Roseburg office of the BLM at the Douglas Timber Operators’ breakfast meeting last Thursday. Addressing near-term and long-term projections for the state of the agency, Carlson focused on the district funding and staffing issues taking a nose-dive as the BLM’s purchasing power declines in the future. “Our projections are not necessarily dire, (but they) are certainly not hugely hopeful,” Carlson said. BLM is a Department of Interior agency. Because of 2005’s hurricanes, military efforts on two fronts, the potential rebuilding process of Iraq and Bush administration tax cuts, Carlson predicts a domestic budget getting spread even thinner with each successive year....
BLM puts forward proposal on herbicides The amount of federal land in Western Oregon sprayed with herbicides could jump from 21,000 acres to 70,000 acres, under a proposal by the Bureau of Land Management. Bureau officials said the spray is a necessary weapon against rampant invasive weeds, which have choked out native plants and taken over millions of acres of public land. A 20-year-old court injunction that curbed the use of pesticides in Oregon left the bureau "a little bit handcuffed" in its fight against the prolific weeds, said Todd Thompson, an agency natural resource specialist based in Portland. A final herbicide proposal, which is due later this year, is seen as the first step toward asking a judge to lift the injunction....
Pulling oil from aging fields With the success of using carbon dioxide to revitalize the century-old Salt Creek oil field in central Wyoming under its belt, Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp. is proposing to use the same technique to coax more oil out of established fields in Sweetwater County. The Bureau of Land Management recently released its environmental study on the company's proposed Monell Enhanced Oil Recovery Project for public review. The company is proposing to pump carbon dioxide into its Patrick Draw Field Monell Unit to increase pressure and to push the oil to production wells. Anadarko officials said results from a pilot program in the project area indicated that CO2 flooding would be an effective method of recovering the additional oil remaining in the ground. The company hopes to recover an estimated additional 28 million barrels of oil using the technique, according to the BLM study....

Aquifer authority, USDA agree to help clear out brush over recharge zone The Edwards Aquifer Authority and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service will implement a brush-management plan over the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone. Through greater brush control, the two government agencies expect to increase the amount of water seeping back into the ground over the aquifer. This initiative also should improve the productivity of pastureland for ranchers. Through the federal Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP), the Natural Resources Conservation Service is looking to reimburse landowners 50 percent for the removal of Ashe juniper throughout the recharge zone....
Parched Oklahoma thirsts for relief Bill Lawson's thirsty pastures crunch underfoot, just like the dried mud in the dead and dying farm ponds that stopped sustaining his cattle weeks ago. His herd follows his pickup truck, lowing for feed because the wheat they usually graze on failed to come up. Fields that should be 6-inch-high seas of shamrock green sit yellowed and dusty, feeding only the black crows that swoop down to steal the unsprouted seed. The Oklahoma rancher moves his herd from shrinking puddle to shrinking pond, fearing grass fires, hoping for rain and knowing that 50 years of farming will end if it doesn't come in significant amounts....
Big, bad Bodacious: His story not a bunch of bull On a neon night in Las Vegas during the 1995 National Finals Rodeo, the odds of Tuff Hedeman drawing the legendary rodeo bull Bodacious were 15-1. But Hedeman was paired with Bodacious, and he faced a big decision. The four-time world champion had promised to never again mount Bodacious after the bull shattered Hedeman's facial bones at a high-profile bull riding show earlier that year. However, Hedeman was in the thick of a title race hunt and declining to attempt to ride Bodacious meant that he would receive a zero that night and the next night. So when he was called to ride, Hedeman mounted Bodacious in the chute, put his hand in the rope handle and called for the gate to be opened. As the panel swung and Bodacious began exiting, a stalwart stock contractor yanked Hedeman off Bodacious and planted Hedeman on the walkway behind the chute. Following those specifics meant that Hedeman received only one zero. Several performances later, Bodacious sent Scott Breding to the emergency room with head injuries, even though Breding wore a catcher's mask. That's when Bodacious' owner, Sammy Andrews, opted to retire the bull. He reassigned Bodacious as a breeder and a traveling road show....